a religious se -- zealot, in waco, texas. >> he truly believed he was the lamb of god. >> leading his followers to armageddon. >> he reportedly believes he is jesus christ. >> i had a radio mike, with an agent pleading for his life. >> david koresh was dangerous,

irrational and probably insane. >> you are under arrest, this standoff is over. >> it went horribly. it was a total disaster. >> the siege at waco. nex next. >> waco, texas, is a quiet, modest city, surrounded by sprawling cattle ranches, located half way between dallas and austin, it is an unlikely place for a modern-day

armageddon. >> pretty much the entire compound is going up right now. >> it was an epic debacle in united states law enforcement history, a deadly shootout, followed by a 51-day siege, that ended with more than 70 people dead in a raging inferno, all caught on live television with the whole world watching. two questions rise from this american tragedy. who shot first? and who started the fires. it began innocently enough, in 1935, a small religious group moved to waco, an off-shoot of the seventh day adventist church, they eventually called themselves the branch davidians.

>> they were pretty stable for a while. they were known as a somewhat bizarre benign religious group that pretty much kept to themselves. >> the davidians bought property east of town, named their sanctuary mt. carmel, after the biblical site. but in the 1980s, a new person would appear, who changed everything. handsome and magnetic, he convinced his followers he would one day be reborn as the messiah, church members worshipped him as the conquerer of babylon. >> he began to present the ideas he had, and i would say 99% of the leadership of the church that were living at mt. carmel accepted him as having a message from god.

>> clive doyle is a branch davidian survivor, and to this day believes in david koresh. >> david was constantly talking to god, god told me to do this, and that. and we accepted it. >> god speaks to me, i have a message to present. >> to outsiders, koresh soon transformed the davidian church into a cult. >> the most important element of the cult is the leader. and they're always described the same way, as being charismatic. >> i mean, there are some things that god has concealed in his written word that are to be brought to you right before the end of time. >> koresh preached end of days philosophy to his followers, a belief system that was centered around an apocalypse against evil armies, led by a messianic leader, who was the second

coming. >> his role was to open the seven seals that were the book of revelation. >> in revelation, the seven s l seals represent the end of days. only the lamb of god can open them. koresh preached he had that power. but by january, 1992, disturbing rumors about the self-styled prophet had surfaced. the local waco tribune had investigated him and his hold over the davidians. >> he had his new lot, and that was as the messiah, he should generate a new population of people to inherent the kingdom of god. and to do that, all the women in the group belonged to him. >> as part of his new prophecy, he dissolved all the marriages.

>> the men in the group would choose to become celibate, if they were married, they would not have relations with their wives. >> it is true i do have a lot of children and wives. >> but koresh apparently did not stop there. >> when david began to first teaching, he began to show that god asked prophets to do what we might consider strange things a lot of times. >> we had evidence that he had sexu sexually abused girls as young as 12. >> it is my great wonderful looks, something that women just can't resist? >> we also discovered that had been going on for a couple of years. and the law enforcement had not done anything really to prevent it or stop it. >> but a field agent from the regional atf office was doing something, secretly. though his investigation had nothing to do with the abuse allegations. his name is davy aguilera, this

is the first time he talked publicly about this case. >> it is very difficult to do this. i have been bottling this up for the longest time. i tried to put it behind me but it never goes away. >> in the summer of 1992. agent aguilera got a tip from the ups that a box delivered from the compound had accidentally opened, revealing a stash of grenades. that tip led to a seven-month of investigations, to see if the branch davidians were stockpiling the weapons. >> they had acquired hundreds of rifles, pistols, shot guns, grenade launchers. almost two million rounds of ammunition. >> i was discovering a lot of ar-15s, they were converting

these weapons from semiautomatic to automatic weapons. >> a semiautomatic weapon is of course, illegal, to possess. >> it is not against the law to buy firearms. it is not against the law to buy anything they sell at a gun show. >> people don't even realize they have turned from a commune into an armed camp. and the weapons become very much a part of their life they have engaged in now, paramilitary training. >> i was outraged. and i was able to go out and get enough probable cause and make sure you know, i get my warrant for this guy. >> in january of 1993, the atf rented a house across the road from the compound and began undercover surveillance, with agents posing as college students. >> we had an undercover agent, special agent robert rodriguez, who actually had interaction and

met with david koresh. >> koresh was not shy about his arsenal or his intentions. >> he says you know, i don't care what the atf says or does. this is my right, you know, to bear weapons. and nobody is ever going to take me down. that is a red flag. >> when you couple a belief system of an apocalypse with a cult leader who is prepared to die and take everyone with him, giving him the tools to do so was a recipe for disaster. >> shortly after the undercover operation began, koresh stopped leaving the compound, fearing he might be arrested. >> we knew pretty much from day one that we were being watched. >> after just over a month of surveillance, agent aguilera obtained warrants to search the davidian compound and arrest

david koresh. the warrants would be served on sunday, february 28th. the day before, the waco herald tribune would finally run its story, a detailed expo titled "the sinful messiah." the reporters talked about the raid. >> one of the reporters told him we're going to do something. so we made plans to have people out there to cover whatever it was. >> the atf plan called for a dynamic entry. around 75 agents, many hidden in cattle trailers would quickly come to the compound, serve the warrants, arrest koresh, search the property and seize the weapons. >> i had the plan, had it not been compromised, would have worked. >> but the plan was compromised. that morning, a local news cameraman got lost trying to

find the branch davidian compound. he asked a mail carrier for directions and indicated there might be a kind of raid. the mailman was a branch davidian, undercover agent rodriguez was at the compound when koresh received the warning. >> robert immediately said, look, i have to leave. david said no, i have to go. and he said stay. as robert told me, he walked out the door and told me i was just waiting for them to put a bullet in my back. >> agent rodriguez went straight to his commanders. and he said they're looking at us, they know we're coming. you need to call it off. >> but the impetus to act had already reached criminal mass. in the next few hours, events at waco would transfix the nation, and david koresh would become a household name. >> i knew they were coming, you

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on sunday morning, february 28th, the atf launched its ill-fated raid on the branch davidian compound outside waco, texas, the atf called it "operation showtime". >> those that made the initial entry, their concern were the children. they had candy bars in their pockets to give out. chocolate for the kids. wow. >> an atf agent named ronald ballasteros was assigned the job of actually serving the warrant. he never even made it to the front door. >> a barrage of gunfire just went right to the door. he got his thumb shot off. [ gunfire ] >> how could these guys just start shooting at us? >> the morning of february 28th,

1993, i will never forget. >> crisis negotiator byron sage arrived. >> i got there a little after 11:00, the gun battle was still raging, which was significant. the average gun battle in law enforcement lasts about two seconds. this was a gun battle that had raged now for well over an hour. suddenly, there was some that shot back, we're not denying that. because they weren't trusting us, and we probably were not too trusting of them. because they were continuing to

shoot. >> bullets were coming out of every window within the compound. >> fbi agent bob ricks would become the face of the government to end the standoff. when he arrives, the atf agents are in shock. >> they had the look of defeat, despair, despondency. they had gone through a horrible day and were forcibly required to retreat from that scene. >> our top priority, right from the start, was to get a lid on the violence. and then to bring their emotionality down. >> as the shootout rages, atf agent jim cavanaugh is already on the phone with the davidians trying to gain a cease fire. >> we were taking an awful beating, so many men were wounded and hurt and laying there. i called the compound, and

talked to steven schneider. >> it was david koresh's top commander. >> he started screaming on the phone that we had no right to be there, to get off the property immediately. i tried to stay calm, i said steve, we have to work this out. you and i have to work this out. people are dying, people are hurt, we need to stop the shooting. >> son, cavanaugh is talking directly with david koresh. >> and everything is okay, just you and me are talking, and that is the main thing. so you care for people. >> father in heaven. >> i had a radio mike in one ear with an agent pleading for his life. and i had this guy on the phone who thought he was guy. >> checking now, our top story in "crime news," 14 are injured, at least 14 dead, in a shootout with members of a religious cult. >> it takes negotiators two and a half hours to gain a cease fire. after that, the top priority is to retrieve the wounded and dead

atf agents from around the compound. the whole scene has the look of a war zone. >> when i first got there, it was a very tense, uncomfortable environment. >> within hours, fbi agents are pouring into waco from around the country. special agent randy parsons is dispatched from washington, d.c. but parsons and his colleagues are not there to simply assist. the fbi is taking over. it is a critical turning point. >> it was an uncomfortable situation, because the alcohol, tobacco and firearms felt a great sense of loss. it was their own men, their own agents who were down and gone. shortly thereafter, they were told that we were going to be taking over the handling of the response to the events on that day. and that was crushing for them, as well. >> at the time, you know, it is percentage. you have some animosity.

i felt a little -- you know, hey, someone is coming in and taking away what i started. but you know it was for the best. because you never know because of what we just went through what we would have done. >> we're out of here! >> get out of here! >> get out of here! >> go, go, go. >> i need help! >> news of the shootout immediately spreads from coast to coast. the national press swarms into waco looking for answers. and from the start, one question dominates all others. who shot first? >> when we drove up, the davidians opened fire. and i am sickened by any other assertion. >> but in a cnn phone interview after the shootout, david koresh says otherwise. >> they started firing at me.

and so then what happened was some of the -- some of the young men started firing on them. they fired on us first. >> we didn't shoot first. we didn't. they shot first. and if i thought that an atf agent would drive up in front of the structure and shoot i would throw my badge in the garbage. didn't happen. >> probably the only person who will ever know who actually shot first is the person who shot first. >> no one could know that the shootout was just a hint of what was coming. a tense, 51-day standoff that would escalate into a conflagration of biblical proportions.

what started as a raid on the branch davidian complex, quickly turned into a debacle. four agents are dead, unknown are injured. with more inside the compound, including david koresh. >> at this hour, the fbi agents are negotiating with the cult leader, he reportedly believes he is jesus christ. mr. koresh, how are you doing? >> fair to midland. >> i understand you have been wounded. will you describe your condition? >> weakening. >> are you shot, sir? >> yes, i am. >> well, communications opened up pretty quickly.

he loved to talk, he loved to hear himself talk. >> how will god talk to you in the latter days, so there will be no excuse. >> so there was no lack of communication. there was a lack of productive communication. >> there is a lot of children here, i've had a lot of babies these past few years. >> is it true, david, that one of the children, a 2-year-old, is dead? >> yeah, that is true. >> he was so calm to a point where you immediately begin to question what kind of personality are we dealing with? >> here we are, it is a day of the lord, making provisions for blood. >> koresh and the davidians were well supplied for a long siege. in addition to their arsenal, they had stockpiled military mres. >> what we ultimately had come to realize is that we had had

individuals inside the compound, heavily armed, that were there voluntarily because they backed what they thought was their messiah. >> what do you think about this? >> i don't know. >> getting the children out is the top priority. but koresh uses them as pawns to get what he wants. air time on the radio. >> i gave them a message for the radio, so that the public can listen to where i'm coming from. and i explained that every time they played it i would send two of the children out. >> the message is played several times over the next few hours. >> and remember, the most fearful warning ever given to man in scripture is the warning found in revelation 22. >> and sure enough, we started to get children out in the afternoon. >> over the next several days, more than a dozen children will be released, along with some adults. but the standoff continues. on the third day of the siege, koresh makes another deal with negotiators.

if they will play a one-hour sermon on national television, he will come out peacefully with all of his followers. >> it does show me and show the world what the seven seals are, where they're at in the propecys, and we'll all come out to you. >> the fbi agrees. >> the tape was played in the afternoon, about 3:00, one for about an hour. and then the clock starts to tick. >> we're all waiting, we're anticipating, we had buses lined up to receive everybody. >> she stated that he had received a message from god, instructing him to wait. >> any doubts about who was calling the shots is suddenly

gon gone. >> now we knew when we had a person who said he was speaking directly to god, and god had told him to wait that this was not going to be normal. >> that was one of the first and more significant glimpses of the disengi disengenius way that david was dealing with us. >> are you patient? >> yeah, i'm patient. >> you're going to see patience, because the only thing we're going to do is sit and wait. >> i believe that was our last best chance to get him to ever come out. he was fatigued. he was wounded. hurt, we had been working on him for three days but at the very last moment he couldn't do it. >> i say in christ, the proof is if i can open up the fields or not. >> he couldn't leave this place where he was god, with unlimited sexual favors and walk out to a

cold jail cell. he tricked us. he fooled us. he played with us. >> on day six of the standoff, another child comes out of the compound with a note pinned to her jacket. it says, once the children are out the adults will die. >> we never got another child out. we got a total of 21. and i will be eternally grateful for the fact we were able to accomplish that. >> 27 children remained inside the compound. >> we continued to press david on that. david finally became very upset with the negotiator and he stopped them. he yelled at them. he said hey, you don't understand. the rest of these children are my children. they're not coming out. the battle with armageddon was

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compound, law enforcement's primary concern was the welfare of the children. >> we really wanted to talk to as many of the children as we could, to see their faces and maybe talk to the mothers, if possible. see if they were being held against their will. >> to accomplish this, the fbi concealed microphones in milk cartons sent into the compound. they also gave david koresh a video camera to record pictures of the children, and any statements any wanted to make. >> this is mine. say hello. real loud, hello. >> hello. >> okay. are you thankful for the milk? >> yes. >> thanks for the milk. >> we were trying to determine what was the nature of the people inside the compound. were they healthy? were they suffering?

>> we learned very rapidly that these people came from all walks of life. some of them very bright people. >> not being held here against my will. >> this is the truth. i know this is the truth. and for anybody that knows me, you know that i wouldn't get into something i didn't think was right. >> we as negotiators had to step back and realize good lord, how much control has this guy actually exercised over everybody inside there? >> on the tape, koresh even shows his wounds. >> you want to see one of the holes here? here is one of them. kind of painful. oh, it ain't nothing, tough guy like me.

>> almost two weeks into the siege, janet r ooe reno was swo as attorney general of the united states. she embraced the plan to wait out the crisis. >> as the siege entered the third week, the fbi turned up the heat. >> but waiting didn't mean anything, authorities bombarded the compound with no electricity and lights, and sometimes cut the phones for hours at a time. then, another major turning point. the fbi tactical team deployed tanks as a physical show of force. >> now, i'm like wow. this is -- looks like a war zone. >> it seemed like during the siege if we did what they asked, the next thing, the guys on the ground, the tactical team smashing up their vehicles and smashing up -- bulldozing the

trees down, it is like every time we didn't comply with them, they punished us in one way or another. >> as the tension went up, the protesters, many of them were gun rights supporters. one was a young disenfranchised army vet, timothy mcveigh. he would bomb the oklahoma city federal building. he said he did it because of waco. david koresh agrees to let two of his followers meet with government negotiators, face to face. >> he had selected steve schneider, his number one lieutenant, and wayne martin. their harvard educated attorney to come out and talk to our representative.

the tension was extremely high. you could quite literally feel the cross hairs on you from the branch davidian compound. as i'm sure steve schneider and wayne martin could feel from our tactical teams that had everybody covered. >> the meeting is positive. the fbi negotiators arrange to meet again in two days. and deliver written assurances requested by koresh. but schneider quickly cancels the second meeting. >> he indicated that david didn't think it was necessary. so i said wait a minute. you don't want to come out or david doesn't want you to come out? he said well, david doesn't think it is necessary. for agent sage, a heated phone call that follows reveals a crucial idea about koresh. >> at one point he is talking about my salvation. i said david, i am absolutely

confident about myself as a christian, and you are not in a position to judge me. now, that was a very calculated move. because stop and think about it. if this individual was delusional, and thought he was jesus christ then who is in a more position to judge me than jesus christ? but that realization is i didn't feel he was delusional or the second coming of christ, i believe he was a con man and his area of con was religion.

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timothy mcve . 46 days into the branch davidian standoff, fbi negotiators are stymied. there is still no progress. in a concession to davidian leader, david koresh, the fbi lets him speak with his attorney from inside the compound. >> i'm hopeful that this is some real progress. and that we can bring this thing to an end real quickly. >> after the attorneys went in, there was -- david said that he was going to write his manuscript, of the meanings of

the seven seals. >> supposedly, the manu script will show that david is the lamb of god. he says it will take two weeks, then he says it will take a year. >> had there been serious preparation of the manuscripts, we would have waited. there was none. >> attorney general janet reno approves the insertion of tear gas into the compound. >> i approve the plan, i'm responsible for it. i advised the president, but did not advise him of the details. >> it is one more major turning point, although reno leaves it to the fbi to decide when to take action. >> we went 27 days with nobody being released. david koresh became more violent in his rhetoric.

>> he has made such statements as. we are ready for war. let's get it on. >> finally, on about the 18th of april, the decision was made that we have had enough delays. we have had enough disingenuous lies coming from these individuals. it was time to exercise a tactical resolution. >> on day 51 of the siege at waco, the fbi initiates its tactical plan to end the standoff. >> david, individuals inside the branch davidian compound, we are in the process of placing tear gas into the building. >> i learned of the gas that day. i didn't know that they were going to do that. and i thought, wow, well, they're going to gas them out. >> exit the compound now.

submit to the proper authority, david. you are under arrest. this standoff is over. >> i don't think we, the fbi, atf, anybody else ever had any control over how this was going to end. i think the only control we truly had was when it was going to end. >> koresh had already decided in advance that he would destroy his followers rather than to give up to the evil armies of the federal government. >> believe me, it will not get any better. it will only get worse. david, you have had your 15 minutes of fame. it is time to leave the building. >> we banked on the fact that a parent, i they found their children exposed to that kind of discomfort, would move heaven and earth to get them to a

position of safety. and we were wrong. >> the beginning of the end comes just after 12:00 noon. a wisp of smoke floats from a compound window. >> my instructions over the loud speakers went from instructions to please, david, don't do this. >> david, don't do this to your people. >> all of a sudden, you see bursts of flames. i thought my god, i hope they allow the children to leave. >> this is not the way to end this. leave your people out, david, be a messiah, not a destroyer. >> i will never -- forget the exact thought that went through my head when i saw the flames. thank god those mothers will bring their children out now.

and we waited and waited and waited. and they didn't bring their children out. the entire scene unfolds before a live tv audience. >> look at that. this is gorgeous. >> they threw tear gas on there and caught on fire or something. >> the exub oerance was tempere by the reality of the situation. >> the structure was like plywood. the structure was like a wooden match. we never stopped our negotiation efforts. we continued right up until i tued off the speakers on that last day at 12:35 in the afternoon.

>> everyone was in tears. we could all see the faces of the children. we all knew who they were. we had seen them. and that's what we were dedicated to doing, was trying to rescue those kids out of there. and that had all gone up in smoke and we knew that they were all dying and there was nothing that we could do about it. >> the viewers that may just be tuning in to cnn, it's day 51 in waco, texas, and the standoff between the fbi and the branch davidian, the religious cult that now seems to be coming to an explosive and fiery end. >> i did not think that he would fulfill his prophecy. that's what he did.

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april 19th, 1993, the siege at waco has come to a fiery end. >> this hour we have no word specifically on the fate of david koresh and specific followers. >> but how in the world could they have done that to their kids? nine people came out, not one of them brought a child. >> clive doyle is one of the

nine who got out but he left his 19-year-old daughter inside. she had been one of koresh's child brides. >> you beat yourself up, why didn't i rescue, why didn't i save anybody? i've kicked myself ever since. people do strange things. >> i was not just shocked but just horrified. i mean, to think that these children had perished in the fire, and women and i started asking questions, like why did this happen? who started the fire? >> it almost became common belief that the fbi had shot the people in there or that the fbi had perhaps started the fire. >> i'm not saying the fbi did everything right or that atf did

everything right. but we did not set the fire, we did not murder anybody. >> infrared photography taken by helicopters above the building shows the fire igniting in three different places inside the compound. >> all of the indications are that the fire was set from within, presumably by some of david koresh's follower. >> nine branch davidians exited that compound that last day. >> there's a person jumping, hanging from that window. >> seven of the nine had accelerants on their clothing. >> whether anybody actually deliberately lit a fire in there, i don't know. but my question would be, even

if they did, whose fault is it? is it our fault because we planned on dying or fbi's problem for taunting david? >> in the smouldering wreckage in the compound, investigators recover at least 78 bodies, including david koresh. >> it appears as though his second in the command, steve schneider, shot david koresh in the head with a pistol and then schneider turned the pistol on himself. >> the children themselves were mostly executed. they were either beat to death, stabbed to death, or shot. david koresh was never going to walk out of that place on our terms. it was doomed from day one that that place, which went by the

name of ranch apocalypse, was destined to end up in flames. >> in the aftermath of the tragedy, not another waco became a rallying cry for the atf. the agency improved intelligence gathering and reporting practices and changed policies on who makes on the ground decisions. the fbi made changes as well forming the crisis response group to make complete coordination between its negotiators and tactical teams. >> i made the decision. i'm accountable. the buck stops with me and nobody ever accused me of running from a decision that i made based on the best information that i had. >> waco was an early test for attorney general janet reno, though she came under intense criticism for her decisions, she remained in office until 2001. as for the waco tribune-herald,

it was named a finalist for the 1994 pulitzer prize in investigative reporting. today, three memorials stand at the branch davidian compound. one is in memory of those who perished in 1995 at oklahoma city. a second memorial is dedicated to all the branch davidian members who died that horrible day in april. the third, the smallest stone of all, remembers the four atf agents who perished on february 28th, 1993. >> robert john williams, tide macan, steve willis, and conway labloom. they were heroes. when i hear taps or when i hear

the bagpipes, i just break down. i'll take this to my grave. labor unions, they give us weekends, child labor laws, and the guaranteed minimum wage. they virtually created the american middle class but a lot of people are asking, what have they done for us lately. in the united states, union membership has been on the decline for half a century. nowadays, fewer than 12% of americans belong to a union and lately they have come under attack. >> the union has to be broken. >> being blamed for everything from the failure of our school system to the death of the twinkie. but if the american unions